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The award-winning blog of the Faculty of Public HealthWed, 22 May 2019 10:06:56 +0000en
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parkrun practicehttps://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/22/parkrun-practice/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/22/parkrun-practice/#respondWed, 22 May 2019 09:27:40 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2916Last summer parkrun and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) joined forces to create #parkrunpractice, an initiative to get more people active and volunteering. I was quick to sign my practice up as I had been a regular parkrunner for the previous year. parkrun (with a small p) is a free, weekly timed 5k walk/run held most Saturdays across the country at 9am. The volunteering opportunities are plentiful; want to simply cheer then have a go at being a marshal or come last and tail walk? Take some photos, scan barcodes, guide a blind runner, or pace someone to a time. There is a role for everyone and no experience is required.

The idea of the collaboration is for general practices to register to become an official ‘parkrun practice’ and forge close links with their local run. There are many ways primary care clinicians can encourage parkrun as a beneficial activity for improving mental/physical health and social interaction within discussions around lifestyle. We have noticeboards and TV screens in the surgery waiting rooms explaining what parkrun is and regularly post on our social media channels about what the benefits can be.

The first step in becoming a parkrun practice is to contact your local parkrun. To help you locate it, there is a handy map on the parkrun website showing your nearby runs. You can email the run directing team and a lot of the runs have facebook, twitter and/or instagram accounts, and are easily contacted via these methods too. I approached one of Heslington parkrun’s run directors and asked if they would like to collaborate with us as they were 1-2 miles from a few of our sites. They were very keen and I signed us up via the RCGP website; certificates were emailed, printed and proudly displayed in all of our waiting rooms in no time.

We held a ‘parkrun takeover’ in March of this year, which I organised along with some of my GP colleagues and one of the run directors. We filled the volunteer roster with over 30 of our staff, patients and friends of the practice. We involved the local Clinical Commissioning Group (Vale of York CCG) by promoting the event in the weekly CCG bulletin and they helped spread the word through their twitter feed. On the day we had Nigel, the Clinical Chair of the CCG, chasing down Dan, the CCG cancer and end of life lead. It was fantastic to see clinicians from different practices across the patch joining forces to celebrate the benefits of parkrun. The York Integrated Care Team (YICT) are closely linked to the practice and several of their nurses and carers took part in volunteering and running on the day.

On the day over 200 participants ran or walked Heslington parkrun in the pouring rain. Despite the awful weather, there were smiles and high fives all around. It takes energy and enthusiasm to organise a takeover but I would encourage all practices to sign up and give it a go as the feedback has been fantastic across the board, one of many messages we received:

Priory Medical Group you were amazing -so many volunteers and runners, full of joy and enthusiasm, and in those conditions! Incredible! Inspirational!

To celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of parkrun practice, pledge to parkrun hopes to get 1,000 GPs to take part in a parkrun on 1 June 2019.

On a personal level, I remember being really apprehensive attending my first event after just graduating from a couch to 5k program the previous month. I needn’t have been because everyone was encouraging and it was very inclusive. I now love parkrun because on a Saturday morning for two hours I get to be me; not a doctor, not a mum, just me! I meet my pals on the start line, try my best during a 5k run and grab a coffee and a catch up afterwards. Every week I meet and chat to someone new, maybe before the run I’ll talk to a ‘parkrun tourist’ from Shrewsbury or a runner might see me struggling in the last kilometre and encourage me on. I was a working mum without any regular time out for exercise, struggling to balance everything, and parkrun gave me important headspace and kickstarted me to get active again.

The parkrun practice initiative can provide benefits to all aspects of health. I have seen some of my patients with mental health problems improve their energy levels, confidence and self-esteem thanks to couch to 5k and parkrun. The physical health benefits of a regular 5k walk or run are clear to see. Social prescribing is on the rise and parkrun is one of many ways we can reduce the need for lifelong medication. It offers the chance to improve health and wellbeing and also encourage social inclusion within a local community.

Written by Dr Abbie Brooks, GP partner at Priory Medical Group, York. To find out more about the Royal College of General Practitioners’ parkrun practice initiative click here. To find out more about parkrun – the free, weekly, timed 5k – or to locate your nearest event, click here. Lastly, you can find out how parkrun began by reading this blog by parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt from the Better Health For All archives.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/22/parkrun-practice/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH Presidentabbie parkrunparkrunThe transition from registrar to consultant https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/15/the-transition-from-registrar-to-consultant/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/15/the-transition-from-registrar-to-consultant/#respondWed, 15 May 2019 11:30:46 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2914Hello, my name is Kathryn. I work as a public health consultant for North Yorkshire County Council. I was invited to write this blog to share my top tips and reflections on the transition from registrar to consultant. I hope you find them helpful.

1. The end of training feels like the words longest interview

Like Part A exams, needing a job feels exposing. Recognise your value. You are a highly trained and valued resource, your skills are needed in the system, the trick is getting employed to use them. Most people get a job at the end of training, but it’s not uncommon for public health specialty registrars(StRs) to feel demoralised if they don’t land a job at their first interview. Look after your mental health – eat well, exercise, sleep well, talk to friends, do what makes you feel good.

2. Professional peer support is gold dust

The StRs you trained with could be help for life. Be generous with your time and support, invest in your networks. Examples of ways to do this – be in an Action Learning Set(a structured method enabling small groups to address complicated issues by meeting regularly and working collectively), train to be an Educational Supervisor, volunteer to be an appraiser, offer mentoring support. When you need help, ask for it, there is always someone who knows more than you and can help you on the path to achieving your goals quicker.

3. Embrace the organisational differences

As a consultant at least 40% of my time is taken up with non-project related meetings e.g. team meetings, business meetings, leadership forums and consultant catch up meetings. In addition I line manage staff which includes objective setting, monthly 121s, appraisals. Add to that mandatory training, budget management and negotiating sensitive office politics. Initially I resented these commitments but now realise they are an important part of public health leadership.

4. Embrace professional differences

As a consultant you no longer have the security and framework of the training programme. However there is a different cradle of support, including professional appraisal and FPH continuing professional development requirements. You can develop your support systems for example a mentor and Action Learning Set. Also there is a move from producing work to supporting others to do it. You are a leader in a system you don’t have to do it all, create followership – from direct reports, but also staff in other directorates and partnerships.

5. To thine own self be true

Work out your values. They will become useful to guide you when you have to make tough decisions. Take opportunities to reflect and request 360 feedbacks. It is good to know yourself.

6. Choose projects wisely

Do routine work rather than exciting work so you’ve had a go before you are a consultant. Also choose work you don’t love or feel confident doing, practice with the safety of a supervisor.

7. Finding a vacancy

Visit directors of public health to ask them about their “priorities and plans”. Seek a placement where you would like to work. Remember you have a choice – think about how your values and passions fit.

8. Preparing for interview

Interviews can feel stressful and exposing. It is always easier to get a job when you have a job which makes end of training even more stressful. Start early prepare well and keep a sense of perspective.

9. Your first year as a consultant

Write annual objectives whilst considering a three year time span. The first year as a consultant is challenging: first professional appraisal, first annual FPH CPD return, managing budgetsand staff, fitting in to a new team, building relationships with new partners, learning new portfolios, geographies, building up a body or work and a good reputation etc.Expect your confidence to dip. In comparison, year two is a pleasure, as you tick off all your “firsts” so they are no longer daunting, you build relationships, increase knowledge, deliver meaningful work and receive good feedback.

To conclude

Look after your mental health at the end of training and prepare well for interview.Do mundane mainstream work and don’t avoid what scares you.Know yourself, your values and your worth.Secure a mentor and structured peer support.

Invest in your public health networks – be generous.Value the dull organisational requirements.Be realistic about what you can achieve. Prioritise.Understand the complexity of your portfolio.Most importantly, enjoy your new job when you secure it.

Written by Kathryn Ingold, Public Health Consultant, NorthYorkshire County Council

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/05/15/the-transition-from-registrar-to-consultant/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH PresidentTranexamic acid: translating research into life-saving practicehttps://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/30/tranexamic-acid-translating-research-into-life-saving-practice/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/30/tranexamic-acid-translating-research-into-life-saving-practice/#respondTue, 30 Apr 2019 06:45:19 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2911As a paediatric registrar I saw a 10 year old girl exsanguinate. She had been in a high speed road crash in which both her parents had been killed. She was sitting in the back wearing a lap belt. It had ruptured her spleen and liver. She was fully conscious but deathly pale and my job was to look after her airway. She asked, ‘will I be alright?’ and I said, ‘yes – but we need to do an operation to stop the bleeding in your tummy’. I gave her an anaesthetic and took her up to theatre but she died on the table. Her death hit me like a hammer and her memory has lived with me ever since.

About 20 years later, working with doctors world-wide, we eventually found a safe and effective treatment for acute traumatic bleeding. It might have saved her life. The CRASH-2 trial showed that early administration of the anti-fibrinolytic drug tranexamic acid – usually known as TXA – reducesbleeding deaths by one third. Globally, this cheap generic drug could save over 100,000 lives each year.

But how do we get this result into practice?

Because this was the first time we had found a treatment that actually worked in trauma patients, we had never done this before. We had to learn fast. Thankfully I work with some very able and committed people – Professor Haleema Shakur-Still who co-directs the LSHTM (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) Clinical Trials Unit with me in particular. We worked with victim organisations, the media, clinicians and policy makers (the Chief Medical Officer, National Clinical Director, NHS Trusts, World Health Organisation). We got tranexamic acid on the WHO List of Essential Medicines. The British Army put TXA into combat care protocols and in 2012, the US Army reviewed the evidence from the CRASH-2 trial and included TXA into its treatment protocols.

We worked with the road traffic victim’s organisationRoadPeace to monitor the implementation of TXA across the NHS. RoadPeace sent Freedom of Information requests to all NHS trusts on an annual basis asking about TXA use. We lobbied the BBC to include TXA in emergency care soaps such as Holby City and Casualty. We worked with the National Clinical Director for trauma to include TXA in the standard contract for trauma services and with Ambulance Trusts on pre-hospital TXA use (TXA was later included in Ambulance guidelines). Slowly TXA use in the NHS started rising.

Recent trauma audit data show that TXA use in NHS trauma has increased from zero in 2010 to over 75% in 2016. But there is lots more to do. One major new challenge is to increase the use of tranexamic acid in women with post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) in low and middle income countries. Our second global trial in acute severe bleeding was the WOMAN trial which enrolled 20,000 women with PPH from over 20 countries world-wide. Again we found that tranexamic acid reduces bleeding deaths by one third. Getting research into practice in high income countries is a lot easier than in low and middle income countries where there is poor health service infrastructure but no mother should die for the lack of a drug that costs less than a dollar.

Winning the Bazalgette Professorship – Champion of Evidence Award – is a real shot in the arm. I had always revered Bazalgette’s contribution to public health and often talk about him to the students. I hope that this award will somehow help us to get TXA to every patient who needs it.

Written by Ian Roberts, professor of epidemiology and public health, and co-director of the Clinical Trials Unit at LSHTM. Professor Roberts is the first person to be awarded the FPH Bazalgette Professorship Champion of Evidence Award. The Award, presented in collaboration with the Alliance for Useful Evidence, recognises a Fellow of FPH for major contributions to public health policy and/or practice through research translation for the benefit of UK population health.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/30/tranexamic-acid-translating-research-into-life-saving-practice/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH Presidentian_robertsThe Role of the NHS in prevention – what we did at our second workshophttps://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/29/the-role-of-the-nhs-in-prevention-what-we-did-at-our-second-workshop/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/29/the-role-of-the-nhs-in-prevention-what-we-did-at-our-second-workshop/#respondMon, 29 Apr 2019 08:58:42 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2909

Earlier this month we held our second of three planned half-day workshops examining the role of the NHS in prevention. Building on the findings from our first workshop, this session brought together experts from Public Health England, NHS England’s strategy and innovation directorate, commissioning groups, local authorities, and NHS trusts. Having such expertise in the room contributed to a thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and constructive discussion on NHS prevention.

We gave attendees a sneak preview of some findings from our recent polling of NHS leaders about prevention and asked attendees for their initial analysis about what we found. We polled NHS leaders about a wide range of prevention aspects, including: their prevention priorities now and for the future, how much they spend on prevention versus how much they would ideally like to spend on prevention, and the barriers they encounter when their teams try to ‘do’ prevention.

We’re really excited about sharing the findings with you in the next few weeks and hope they will illuminate how NHS leaders see prevention and its importance to their work, along with how they think prevention should be delivered. It was heartening to see the priority given to prevention by NHS leaders outside of public health and this underscored the recognition that preventing ill-health is key to a sustainable NHS.

FPH’s response to the NHS Long Term Plan was also outlined with a special emphasis on how FPH can contribute to its implementation. I’ll just touch on one of the topics discussed here. Workforce development is one of FPH’s core functions. Through this project, we’ve been hearing that public health input into acute settings varies widely from locality to locality and this has been identified as a critical gap in registrar training. Crucially, we heard, this is not just about FPH trying to increase the footprint of the core public health workforce – although that would be welcome. It’s also about ensuring that clinicians in other specialties, such as general practice and paediatrics, have the public health skills they need to help deliver the prevention agenda.

The workshop also had a particular focus on untangling some of the thorniest governance challenges NHS organisations face when trying to integrate prevention into ‘business as usual’. We heard in our first workshop that getting the governance for prevention interventions right should be an immediate priority for any NHS organisation seeking to take a systems approach to prevention delivery. Subsequent feedback from FPH members – along with a survey of the healthcare public health workforce – has revealed that ‘governance issues’ are a top barrier to prevention.

Good governance matters because it leads to more efficient use of public health spending. Making the healthcare system accountable for the health of their local population instead of dealing with disease as and when it arises would help refocus the healthcare system around preventing ill-health from happening in the first place.At our workshop we heard from the team in the East Midlands leading some of the investigative work into what makes the ‘governance machinery’ of the NHS function better for prevention and discussed collaboratively some of the governance challenges teams are facing and the solutions they are looking to implement.

We will be exploring these topics further, including the opinion polling findings, in a discussion paper due to be published in the next few weeks. Your feedback and comments are what help us shape this work and – as always – we hope you will take a moment to get in touch and let us know what you think. Thank you so much in advance.

Written by Ahmed Razavi, Specialty Registrar in Public Health and member of FPH’s Public Health Funding Project Group.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/29/the-role-of-the-nhs-in-prevention-what-we-did-at-our-second-workshop/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH PresidentcofPublic Health in Hospitalshttps://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/25/public-health-in-hospitals/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/25/public-health-in-hospitals/#respondThu, 25 Apr 2019 13:31:31 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2907A public health department could be introduced in hospitals all over the world.

Doctors and public health specialists working together under the umbrella of hospitals can lift a huge burden of diseases off our society and our health budget. Public health specialists could counsel people in the surrounding community (including patients and their caregivers) about preventive measures for maintaining good health. This effort would help people understand the importance of prevention and how it can save them from major diseases.

During visits for a regular checkup or a simple fever, patients and their caregivers at high risk could be advised by public health specialists about preventive measures. For example, most cases of cardiac disease develop due to a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. Too often people ignore the symptoms and avoid visiting a doctor. If such cases are detected early on during, say, a routine hospital visit, public health specialists could help people from developing serious conditions. Instead of encouraging people to eat better and exercise after a cardiac disease diagnosis, why not help people when they are still relatively healthy?

A system could be created so that at times of natural disasters/catastrophes all public health specialists can unite at one platform and use all their abilities to save the affected people from further physical and mental pain.

This cell is for quick response when epidemic occurs to avoid panic and minimise casualties. In epidemic days it can hold counseling sessions for all patients visiting hospital along with healthy attendants to minimise the spread of epidemic.

It can also conducton-the-job training of staff. An example of this is the implementation of the latest program that has been introduced by WHO called IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) which has distance learning modules for health workers for better health care delivery.

Section 2: Disease Prevention Cell

The aim of this would be to provide health education to prevent people getting sick and/or contracting diseases. An example of this would be educating people on the importance of drinking safe water by using chlorine tablets as a replacement for boiling water.

This department could work in collaboration with other units such as cardiology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, dermatology, cancer surgery, ophthalmology, gynecology and pediatrics.

Here are some examples of how this could work in practice;

Cardiology

Patient arrives in Cardiology Emergency Department with chest pain or tachycardia and is sent back after ECG shows no signs of pathology. In the presence of a public health department this patient could be consulted about their weight, habits, physical activity and mental health to avoid development of a major cardiac pathology in future

Gastroenterology

Patient arrives in Gastroenterology Department with epigastric pain and is sent home after being prescribed regular treatment.

In the presence of a public health department this patient could be consulted about the importance of boiled/safe water and safe food intake as a preventive measure against Hepatitis and other gastric diseases.

Cancer surgery

There is a real life case of a young woman who developed breast cancer. She had a single mastectomy but 10 years later, she developed breast cancer on the other breast and is currently undergoing chemotherapy after surgery. She wasn’t consulted about follow up/looking for warning signs after her first diagnosis but in the presence of a public health department, this patient could have been consulted to avoid future pathology by regular follow ups and looking out for warning signs as early as possible.

Gynecology and Pediatrics

A public health department could educate pregnant women about warning signs to look for during pregnancy, and in their babies to prevent the occurrence of a serious disease.

For example, pregnant mothers could be given instructions on how to fulfill the nutritional requirements of themselves during pregnancy and beyond.

For all of the above departments, infographics and health education posters could be displayed to educate patients and staff as well.

What would the aims and requirements of a public health department be?

The staff required for setting up of this department should be qualified in public health or community medicine.

The main aim of introducing public health departments in hospitals is to prevent development of diseases or their serious forms and give health education to people who are not receiving it at the moment. The focus of hospitals lies on curative treatment but a formal way of giving people health education is missing in our health system. If properly implemented, this could make us a healthy and productive nation and world.

When mental health makes the headlines it is often owing to healthcare concerns, for example long waiting times for accessing care. This focus on responding to mental illness is very important, but when considered in isolation it can distort a wider population view of mental health and well-being – one that we are all part of, affected by, and is heavily influenced by our social and economic environment. Public mental health focuses on mental health improvements for all population groups, as well as targeted and universal approaches to preventing and reducing mental illness.

So what is the conference about?

This unique occasion willbring together colleagues from across public health and psychiatry to reflect on and develop plans for how we can continue to collaborate in the creation of better mental health for all. This will includelistening to a range of eminent speakers from across the UK sharefascinating examples of collective approaches to improving population mental health, such as:

The introduction of minimum alcohol pricing in Ireland

The role of social prescribing

How different public services are taking innovative and collaborative steps to address adverse childhood experiences.

The conference will also giveattendeesa platform toshare ideas and perspectives across specialties with regards to the opportunities and challenges of collaborative working. There is arguably a never more important time for this conference in terms of capitalising on the growing political and societal focus on mental health, as demonstrated in policy documents such as the NHS Long Term Plan.

What opportunities does this conference offer?

We asked others across psychiatry, public health and academia:

Across the whole life span, early life experiences impact on the quality of our relationships, mental health and life chances. Working in liaison psychiatry in the diverse communities of Luton and Watford, this has been illustrated on a daily basis by the people presenting in crisis in Emergency Departments. Despite political focus, huge inequalities persist for the people using our services and far too few benefit from timely preventive interventions. Primary prevention is vital, but so too are secondary and tertiary prevention strategies as there is much need, right now. Having met many people in both specialties, I believe this truly is a ‘meeting of minds’: two specialties with different skills but shared values. I’m excited to see how this collaboration develops.

Carol Wilson, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, East London NHS Foundation Trust

Mental health problems have a huge impact on population health, causing significant distress and impairment to large numbers of individuals and their families, as well as having a broader social and economic impact. At the same time, positive mental health and resilience can bring great benefits to the individual and society. Joint working across public health and mental health settings, including the policy, research and practice arenas, is important to help maximise population well-being and to limit the public health impact of mental distress.

Associate Professor John Powell, University of Oxford

Public mental health still feels in its infancy with much that is untested and contested. There is an imperative to bring the skills of public health and the understanding of psychiatry together to agree jointly what works when and for whom, to improve mental health for everyone. Before the spotlight fades.

One of my main motivations for pursuing a career in public health was to tackle the physical health inequalities experienced by people with mental health problems. During my time working as a mental health nurse I witnessed how the physical health needs of individuals experiencing mental health problems were often neglected, particularly in relation to their health-related behaviours (e.g. smoking, alcohol, diet and physical activity). This conference is an important platform in which to develop joint strategies to address physical health inequalities amongst people with mental health problems.

Claire Mawditt, Public Health Specialty Registrar, ST2

From listening to mental health service users, their families and those caring for them, there seems to be two predominant conversations gaining traction. Firstly, the potential for community organisations to contribute to preventing and supporting population mental health such as schools, sports clubs, barbers, gardening groups and parenting forums. Secondly, the growing recognition of the importance of a life course approach to mental health to build capacity in early identification of mental health problems and early support. The conference provides a platform to take these conversations further to develop a trans-disciplinary approach to addressing these issues.

Lucie Collinson, Public Health Specialty Registrar, ST5.

Written by Laura Austin Croft, Lucie Collinson and Claire Mawditt on behalf of the Faculty of Public Health Public Mental Health Special Interest Group.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/05/a-meeting-of-minds-looking-towards-our-public-health-and-psychiatry-conference-on-10-may/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH PresidentStalking: a public health issuehttps://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/03/stalking-a-public-health-issue/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/03/stalking-a-public-health-issue/#respondWed, 03 Apr 2019 11:50:33 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2902The Suzy Lamplugh Trust is due to host a Stalking Awareness Conference on 9 April 2019 in London. The timing of the Conference is pertinent, as it follows the passage of the Stalking Protection Bill in March 2019, designed to strengthen the law and protect victims of stalking.

This year’s Conference theme is about stalking as a public health issue, which will present opportunities for policy makers, practitioners and experts within the health community across government departments, clinical commissioning groups and local government to meet and begin contributing to dialogue and solutions to mitigate the sheer impact of stalking.

A joint report on key findings from ‘Stalking and Health – Understanding the impact’ (based on a survey conducted between January and March 2019), will be launched at the Conference. The report by the National Stalking Consortium (which includes the Alice Ruggles Trust, Suzy Lamplugh Trust and National Centre for Cyberstalking Research amongst other stakeholders) will highlight statistics and conditions on mental health due to stalking. It concludes that front line teams (across all public services) need guidance and training enabling them to better assist those being stalked – thereby reducing cases of PTSD, depressions, as well as femicides on what is a largely gendered crime.

Suzy Lamplugh Trust defines Stalking as “A pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour which is intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim”.

Stalking is a public health issue which has a huge impact on health and well being of victims. It differs from harassment in that a perpetrator of stalking will be obsessed with or have a fixation on the individual(s) they are targeting. Stalking can take place in many forms, affecting all aspects of everyday life.

Research has shown:

Stalking is one of the most common forms of interpersonal violence in the UK affecting 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men across their lifetime

A reported 1.1 million people experience stalking in England and Wales each year; 734,000 women and 388,000 men.

Those experiencing stalking can display symptoms in line with PTSD, anxiety and depression

Suzy Lamplugh Trust has been influencing UK policy for over two decades; including campaigning for the introduction of the Protection of Harassment Act 1997, amended in 2012 to make stalking a criminal offence for the first time. In 2019, the Law around stalking was strengthened to further protect victims at an early stage. The Trust has been running the National Stalking Helpline since its launch in 2010, supporting around 30,000 victims of stalking so far.

Our work continues, and the National Stalking Awareness Conference 2019 aims to highlight the impact of stalking; challenge and improve existing understanding of stalking within the Health sector for victims as well as perpetrators and focus on addressing the lack of specialist health services for victims of stalking. Please find more information and book your ticket here.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/04/03/stalking-a-public-health-issue/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH PresidentNational Stalking Awareness Day 2019_AW-01.jpgIt’s time to find, treat and end TB for all! https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/03/22/its-time-to-find-treat-and-end-tb-for-all/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/03/22/its-time-to-find-treat-and-end-tb-for-all/#respondFri, 22 Mar 2019 15:24:15 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2899It’s World TB Day on 24 March 2019. Tuberculosis (TB) is preventable and curable, and World TB Day falls on 24 March each year, commemorating the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch first announced he had discovered the bacterium causing TB. Global efforts to tackle TB make a difference and are estimated to have saved 54 million lives from TB since 2000.

However, World TB Day is an annual reminder that TB remains a huge threat to public health worldwide.The World Health Organisation still describe it as the world’s ‘deadliest infectious killer’, as every day nearly 4,500 people lose their lives to TB, that’s about 1 every 20 seconds. In England, a Collaborative Strategy introduced in 2015 has resulted in a fall in TB rates and numbers, but there are concerns that without the continued collaborative efforts and funding to continue addressing this as a public health priority we’ll regress back to previous rising trends when this strategy comes to an end in 2020.

The World Health Organisation has launched a joint initiative ‘Find. Treat. All. #EndTB’ with the Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership with the aim of scaling up the TB response and ensuring universal access to TB prevention and care.This World TB Day, the WHO calls for partners around the world to unite forces under the banner ‘Find. Treat. All. #EndTB’ to ensure no-one is left behind. The theme this yearis ‘it’s time’, emphasising the urgency to act on commitments made by global leaders to:

scale up access to prevention and treatment

build accountability

ensure sufficient and sustainable financing including for research

promote an end to stigma and discrimination

promote an equitable, rights-based and people-centered TB response

Across Yorkshire and Humber, there are a wide range of World TB activities to raise awareness of the continuing threat of this disease spanning across multiple organisations such as:

Lighting up buildings across the region as part of ‘Light up the World for TB’

Digital and rolling posters at Leeds City Council and at bus shelters

A health bus to promote TB awareness, provide clinical support from TB nurses and translator services in Dewsbury and Huddersfield, and another health bus in Sheffield

Social media promotion across the region.

Letters sent to all community pharmacists across Kirklees, with an article in their bulletin, asking to support the LTBI programme by displaying posters sent to each pharmacy

Clinical Commissioning Group and practice staff bulletins in Bradford

Stalls at Girlington Community Centre and other sites throughout Bradford

Practice protected time outs about TB, the latent TB programme and World TB Day

A TB nurse interview on Sangham Community radio, which drew an audience of almost 185,000 listeners

Leeds Town Hall on ‘Light up the World for TB’ on World TB Day 2018

Colleagues and I from Public Health England and local authorities will be running a symposium at our annual regional Association of Directors of Public Health Sector-Led Improvement conference on what local authorities can do to tackle TB and what support can Public Health England offer. We will be focusing on people with TB who have nowhere to live and no recourse to public funds as this poses a particular challenge. There is no nationally agreed pathway for providing accommodation for these people, yet without the basics like somewhere to live there is no way we can effectively and humanely treat these vulnerable people and prevent spread to others. We hope to pull together a resource of information for local commissioners trying to develop pathways to address this issue.

The short film was introduced by the film’s writer and producer Rachel Shenton. Itexplores the tensions and differences in expectations between the hearing family of a young deaf girl and her specialist teacher who attempts to nurture and improve the child’s communication skills and ability to interact and connect with others. The family however remained resistant to learning sign language and did not have high expectations for their daughter.

Following the film,a panel of experts engaged in discussion with the audience and the film proved most effective in galvanizing debate on this important public health priority.The ensuing debate covered issues including:

Policy:at national level there is PHE’s screening and prevention programme offering hearing teststo newborn babies and children to identify any problems early on in their development along with PHE’swider work around speech and language. NHS England and others produced an “Action Plan on Hearing Loss”to support services for deaf people and others recommending ways that services can be improved.

Partnerships: further integrated and holistic approachesshould be developed withmore joined up approaches across services to reduce, for example, developmental and educational gaps and to increase personalised care planning.

Awareness and understanding: work to strengthen understanding amongst the public and professionals including dispelthe myth that deafness is a learning disability given deaf children have the potential toachieve the same as any other childwith the right support.

Data and intelligence: enhance the quality of data collection and monitor this more effectively to better understandsocial, financial and personal health implications.

Resources: the direct cost to the NHS of managing hearing loss is estimated to cost up to £450 million a year.The Minister of State for Children and Families reported councils were given £223m extra funding to pay for the biggest reforms to special needs education in a generation, with new education, health and care plans tailored to the needs of every child; however the “Consortium for Research into Deaf Education”reportedthe number of teachers of the deaf had been cut by 14% in the past seven years, at the same time as a 31% increase in the number of children requiring support.

The panel was chaired by Uy Hoang, President, Public Health Film Society. The experts on the panel were:

Written by Karen Saunders, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead/Public Health Specialist, Public Health England (West Midlands) and Co-Chair of FPH’s Children and Young People Special Interest Group.

]]>https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/03/12/oscar-winning-short-film-the-silent-child-was-debated-at-the-public-health-film-festival/feed/0Alan Maryon-Davis, FPH PresidentKaren SaundersWessex Public Health Conference 2019https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/03/08/wessex-public-health-conference-2019/
https://betterhealthforall.org/2019/03/08/wessex-public-health-conference-2019/#respondFri, 08 Mar 2019 15:19:59 +0000http://betterhealthforall.org/?p=2892The second Wessex Public Health Conference, to be held on March 15th at St Mary’s Football Ground in Southampton, poses the question ‘Are we getting serious about prevention?’, as per the Five Year Forward View and the NHS Long-Term Plan.

Our annual conference draws colleagues from across the breadth of the public health
community in Hampshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands, including staff in local authorities, NHS services and academics from our local universities. The conference is organised by a Wessex-wise public health collaboration and is led by Health Education England (HEE) and this year we have been greatly
oversubscribed with 250 delegates confirmed to attend.

The conference themes pose critical questions to our professional community. Are we doing enough to act on basic needs, mitigating the effects of poverty and ensuring access to basic requirements of food, clean air and housing? What are the threats and opportunities in public mental health and what more should we be doing? Given our skills in system leadership how can we use these to influence the direction of policy and service reconfiguration towards prevention? We are delighted that three eminent and influential keynote speakers have agreed to introduce the debates around
these issues:

David Buck, Senior Fellow of Public Health and Inequalities at the Kings Fund;

Dr Julie Rugg from the Centre for Housing Policy, University of York.

We will have four streams of workshops and oral paper sessions running throughout the day, including in addition to the three above, a fourth open stream on local public health action. There was an enthusiastic response to the call for abstracts so we have a full programme of four workshops on System Leadership, Air Quality, Mental Health in Teenagers, and Housing and Homelessness; and over 30 oral presentations in other sessions. There will also be 40 posters which will be judged to award the Best Poster Prize of the day, as well as a full range of Exhibition stands.

We are also very pleased to welcome FPH President, Professor John Middleton, and FPH CEO, James Gore, who will be running a lunch time meeting for all delegates to have
the opportunity to discuss professional issues with them. Also this year we have teamed up with the Saints Foundation, the charitable arm of the football club, who will be offering lunchtime fitness activities.

The conference is seen as a key development opportunity for our Specialist Registrars, some of whom have helped in planning and ensuring that we have a clear sustainability policy to minimise the environmental effects of the conference. The planning committee has been a collaboration across our public health teams, academics and PHE colleagues and we are grateful for their involvement and all the contributions to make a success of the day.

Written by Dr Viv Speller on behalf of the Wessex Public Health Conference 2019 Planning Committee. The agenda for this year’s conference is available here.